A Growing Asian Immigrant Presence in Organized Labor

Despite the rising tide of anti-union legislation across the country, union membership is increasing among one group—immigrants. The majority of these new union members come from Latin America, and increasingly, from Asia.

In this podcast episode, Fi2W executive producer John Rudolph speaks with reporter Cristina Pastor about the impact that Asians are having on organized labor in New York and across the country. Others featured in the podcast are veteran Chinese-American labor leader May Chen and Maf Uddin, president of AFSCME Local 1407. His union represents about 125,000 municipal workers in New York City, including accountants, statisticians and actuaries.

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About Feet in 2 Worlds

Feet in Two Worlds brings the work of immigrant and ethnic media journalists from communities across the U.S. to public radio and the web.
Since 2005, this award-winning project has expanded the diversity of voices and stories on public radio by presenting the work of journalists representing a broad spectrum of immigrant communities including Arab, Bosnian, Brazilian, Chinese, Haitian, Indian, Irish, Latin American, Pakistani, Polish, and Russian immigrants.
Feet in Two Worlds reporters appear on nationally-distributed public radio programs including PRI’s The World, Studio 360, and The Takeaway, American Public Media’s Marketplace and NPR’s Latino USA, as well as on public radio stations WNYC, New York Public Radio, and WDET in Detroit.